1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a sheet feed tray on which a plurality of sheets to be fed to an image forming apparatus is stacked, a sheet feed device including the sheet feed tray, and the image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feed device.
2. Background Art
Image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and multi-function devices having one or more capabilities of the above devices include in general a sheet feed tray. The sheet feed tray is becoming more compact as image forming apparatuses continue to shrink in size. As a result, it has become difficult to accommodate a long sheet when a long sheet is used for printing.
Accordingly, an approach has been attempted in which the long sheet is folded back on itself and stacked in the image forming apparatus. FIG. 31 shows an example of a sheet feed tray, in which a pair of side fences 300 is disposed on a tray body 200 and a guide member 400 including an upper guide plate 401 and a lower guide plate 402 is mounted to the pair of side fences 300. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 32, a sheet P is placed on the tray body 200, the lower guide plate 402, and the upper guide plate 401 so that the sheet P can be placed in the folded state.
However, in the above sheet feed tray, when a long sheet is placed, the sheet is passed between the upper guide plate and the lower guide plate, complicating placement. In addition, when the sheet is thick or there are a large number of the sheets, the bundle of sheets exerts stiffness and folding it back is difficult, thereby making it difficult to place the sheet in the apparatus.